Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

11.00: Mary & John Lovett; (Anniv).
6.30: John Burke, (Anniv).

AS I WAS SAYING.....

The brutal murder of Denis Donaldson, the former Sin Fein member who was also a British agent, is a grisly witness to the corrupting effects of terrorism, a stark illustration of man's abiding inhumanity to man. Because we are rational creatures pursuing rational political ends, we assume that the terrorist is similarly motivated. So we cast around for some explanation. What political end is served by this act? Perhaps this is the work of those who want to destabilise the peace process; who are yet to be convinced that the political ends of republicanism cannot be achieved by violence but only, if ever, through politics. Or were old scores being settled? Some aggrieved ex-prisoner exacting his final pound of flesh? But there may be another more chilling explanation: that years of violence have left some people simply addicted to it.

In Joseph Conrad's novel, 'The Secret' Agent', there is a character called The Professor who gets drawn into the world of revolutionary violence. Conrad wrote just before the First World War following terrorist incidents in Britain and France. The professor begins by being motivated with the ideals of the revolutionary - he wants freedom and justice for the downtrodden - but ends by despising everyone, other revolutionaries as well as the authorities. The political ends of his violence are lost sight of, the means become addictive. They don't achieve anything politically, but they give him emotional release and satisfaction.

This insight of Conrad has application beyond his time and our shores. We see clearly how regimes that are themselves forms of legalised terror - one thinks of Saddam's Iraq as we approach the anniversary of its toppling - leave people addicted to violence. Violence and deliberate blood-letting corrupts us human being insofar as it dehumanises us. No society will go through 30 years of unrelenting violence without being changed (and always for the worse) by it. This was as obvious this week in Donegal as it was in Baghdad.

The gunman or the suicide bomber seems very remote. In fact the easiest way to deal with him is to regard him as something utterly 'other', an 'animal'. But, if we were reared on a daily diet of violence, would we behave any differently? Civilisation, I fear, is a rather thin veneer! We simply don't know!

Christians reflect on these matters in the light of the events of the coming week, Holy Week. Jesus of Nazareth had no political goals: his kingdom was not of this world. Those of his disciples who thought otherwise were told firmly to put away their swords. Yet he was caught up in violence and politics. But the conundrum of that fatal involvement transcends (and eludes) all politics and religion: how are hard hearts to be changed into loving ones?

What unites all the actors this coming Holy Week - Judas, Peter, Pontius Pilate - is that their concerns and emotional satisfactions always come first. What makes Jesus so compelling, yet so hard to follow, is his solution: the only antidote is to find our centre outside of ourselves, in our neighbour and God. But this vision remains a pious aspiration. Donegal and Baghdad told us as much this week. Yet, without this aspiration, Donegal and Baghdad will appear normal.

-Dick Lyng

Items of Interest

Letter

The Rectory,
Taylor's Hill,
Galway.
6th April, 2006.

Dear Dick,

Those of us from St. Nicholas who attended the Lenten Study Evenings greatly valued the friendships, fellowship and insights. And, by the way, what a marvellous facility you have at your disposal with the restored Augustinian church and priory. It is an ideal setting for sessions such as you conducted. Wonderful space and lots of comfort!

Even if we had the resources here, it would not be physically possible to host such evenings here in St. Nicholas's. If 'repentance' has a meaning of seeing actions in a new light, then the time spent in St. Augustine's certainly gave us a 'Lent of Repentance'. Seeing things under God in a new way and hopefully adjusting our behaviour and approaches is surely at the very heart of the faith we share.

Thank you for all the superb preparations and all your people for the warmest of hospitality always extended to us. Incidentally, the chicken wings were delicious. I just hope there isn't a price to be paid (medically!) down the line!

Every best wish,
Patrick.

HAVING CONFESSED

Having confessed he feels
That he should go down on his knees and pray
For forgiveness for his pride, for having
Dared to view his soul from the outside.
Lie at the heart of the emotion, time
Has its own work to do. We-must not anticipate
Or awaken for a moment. God cannot catch us
Unless we stay in the unconscious room
Of our hearts. We must be nothing,
Nothing that God may make us something.
We must not touch the immortal material
We must not daydream to-morrow's judgement-
God must be allowed to surprise us.
We have sinned, sinned like Lucifer
By this anticipation. Let us lie down again
Deep in anonymous humility and God
May find us worthy material for His Hand.

-Patrick Kavanagh (1904-67)

EASTER PROGRAMME

Penitential Services:
Spy Wednesday at 8.00
Holy Saturday: 4.00
Traditional Confessions:
Holy Thursday: 11.00-12.30; 4.00-6.00.
Good Friday: 11.00-12.00; 6.30-8.00
Holy Saturday: 11.00-1.00; 2.30-3.30; 5.00-6.00
Easter Services:
Holy Thursday: Mass of the Lord's Supper: 8.00
Good Friday: Stations of the Cross: 12.00 Midday
Celebration of the Lord's Passion: 3.00
Suffering: A Christian Perspective: 8.00
Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil: 9.00.

BUSY TIMES

As you will gather from the programme outlined above, we have ten special services to celebrate the Paschal Mystery in this church.

We really do need all the help we can get. Like cotton-picking, these Holy Week ceremonies are really labour-intensive! So I will be out with the clip-board again today!

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